Daniel Lynch pitches a gem for Kansas City Royals vs. Tigers in return to the majors

The Daniel Lynch the Kansas City Royals hoped to see, the one to whom their scouts and player development people gave a vote of confidence and publications such as Baseball America and the website MLBPipeline.com touted as one of the best pitching prospects in the game — that guy showed up Sunday afternoon.

Lynch, 24, tossed eight scoreless to earn his first major-league win as the Royals beat the Detroit Tigers 6-1 and swept their three-game series in front of an announced 12,703 at Kauffman Stadium. Lynch became the first Royals pitcher to throw eight scoreless innings in any of his first four career appearances.

The win extended the club’s streak to five in a row and gave them their second consecutive series sweep. The five-game win streak matches the longest streak of the season for the Royals (42-55).

Lynch, a 6-foot-6 left-hander, held the Tigers to five hits, four singles. He struck out four and did not walk a batter in eight innings, the longest outing by a Royals starting pitcher this season.

“This was my first win I’ve experienced in any game in the big leagues, so it was just really cool to feel that and get fired up and do the stuff in the postgame,” Lynch said. “I think I’ll remember all that a lot more than my personal performance. I thought we played awesome defense and (catcher Cam Gallagher) called a great game. So it kind of went by really quick. I just felt like I was in the moment.”

Lynch’s previous stint in the majors came during an 11-game losing streak, which ended after he’d been optioned back to the minors.

Royals starters have now registered quality starts in four of their last five games with Mike Minor, Brad Keller and Kris Bubic all also getting in on that act.

Royals slugger Jorge Soler enjoyed his first two-homer game since August 8, 2020, and All-Star Salvador Perez hit a three-run homer for the second time in less than 24 hours. Soler now has four home runs in his last five games.

Lynch, recalled before the game as the Royals optioned reliever Tyler Zuber back to Triple-A, entered the day having stumbled hard in his initial foray in the majors earlier this season.

In those three previous starts, from May 3-13, he allowed 15 runs (14 earned runs) on 18 hits and five walks in eight innings.

The No. 34 overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft, Lynch turned in his stellar outing against the club that punched his ticket back to the minors on May 13. The Tigers tagged him for four runs on seven hits in 2 2/3 innings in his last start before the Royals sent him down.

“It’s obviously a pretty humbling experience and also a tough experience when you achieve your dream and so quickly after that,” Lynch said. “It’s obviously not taken away, but you don’t get to do it anymore at the level that you want to be at.”

The Royals felt inconsistencies in Lynch’s pitching delivery were giving opposing hitters clear indication which pitches were coming, and hitters took full advantage.

In his last two starts for the Triple-A Omaha Storm Chasers, Lynch allowed four runs (three earned) on eight hits without giving up a walk in nine innings.

“He showed up, all business,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “You could tell he had an agenda, and that agenda was to look a lot different than what he did last time.”

On Sunday, Lynch (1-2) gave up just two hits in the first five innings. Both came with two outs in the second, but Lynch induced an inning-ending grounder to shortstop to strand both runners.

He didn’t have another man on base until the sixth, when he gave up back-to-back hits on an infield single and a bloop single to left field. He then got Jonathan Schoop to ground into a double play and struck out Eric Haase swinging to strand a runner on third. Haase entered the day batting .338 with nine home runs in 68 at-bats against left-handed pitching this season.

Lynch retired the side in order in the seventh, and he worked around a one-out single in the eighth. He tossed 95 pitches (65 strikes) before handing the ball to the bullpen.

“For him to step in here in that situation against this same team that’s been swinging the bat really well, I’m so impressed with him,” Matheny said. “You’re talking not even a walk. Challenging, trusting, made the adjustments — he was coachable.

“Obviously, the pitching coaches here, as well in the development system, got together and said, ‘Let’s figure out what we can do.’ Then you hand it over, and that’s Daniel.”

The Royals’ offense spotted Lynch a four-run lead in the first inning thanks to Perez’s three-run home run smashed 454 feet to left-center field, followed by a 425-foot solo homer from Soler just three pitches later.

Soler’s second homer of the day, a solo shot in the third inning, made the Royals’ lead 5-0. He now has 11 homers this season and eight career multi-homer games.

Soler said he has felt more confident at the plate of late, and that has allowed him to make better decisions about which pitches to swing at.

“It’s not about who you’re facing, it’s just with my swing,” he said. “I’ve just got to feel confident every time with it.”

Jarrod Dyson’s seventh-inning RBI single tacked on the final run for the Royals.

Reliever Ervin Santana, throwing in a game for the first time since July 10, gave up the Tigers’ lone run in the top of the ninth before Jake Brentz came on to record the final three outs.